The Notebook

Something Nice Behind the Clouds

The character, Ed Collins, shares my name and is somewhat based on myself. All ego aside, however, this gives me a unique opportunity for introspection within my writing.

Ed is a complex guy; he's an ex-cop whose life went to shit well before the world did. His spouse, Rebecca Collins, was the love of his life, but she died of breast cancer about ten years ago -- seven years before the Packard demonstration. After her death, he quit the force and fell hard into drug and alcohol habits, which he supported by using his police experience to begin a life of crime. Though he never got caught, his life was heading in a severe downward spiral.

When the hostiles appeared, Ed survived through sheer luck and guile. It was during this time that he managed to learn two important facts about the hostiles: they all bleed black, and they are seemingly unable to answer any questions about their birthdays (though it is possible that this latter bit of information was a mere oversight by one of the hostiles and not a general rule). For the last three years he has been hiding in the suburbs, living in a cavernous mansion of a house with all the personal luxuries he never had in his old life. Through the course of rigorous personal study, he has read two different collections of encyclopedias, countless survival manuals, and achieved enough proficiency in electronics and mechanics to rig a waste-burning generator below his house for his daily power requirements.

He hasn't seen another living person in 288 days.